Asgard archaea in modern microbial mats

The suggested evolutionary relationship between Asgard archaea and eukaryotes

Biologists from a broad range of specialisations have long struggled with the evolutionary origin of the eukaryotic cell, a major increase in cellular complexity occurring approximately 2 billion years ago. Previous work has suggested that the eukaryotic cell emerged from the domain of archaea, although the exact nature of the evolutionary relationship between the archaea and the eukarya remains unclear.

Metabolisms in the different phyla of Asgard archaea.

Recently, the Asgard archaea have been described from metagenomic data. The superphylum of Asgard affiliate strongly with eukaryotes in phylogenetic analyses and also encode numerous complex systems previously believed to be eukaryotic specific. However, the implied relationship between Asgard archaea and eukaryotes remains controversal, with differing phylogenetic techniques producing variable results.

This arm of the Burnslab research is currently the most active, and aims to make use of a range of cultivation-independent techiques to uncover the evolutionary relationship between eukaryotes and Asgard archaea, as well as to better describe the unique lifestyle of Asgard archaea. In particular, this project aims to break down the traditional distinctions between the Archaea and eukaryotic life.